Maine Woman Swipes Sex Guide from Library’s Children’s Section
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Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 9/25/2007 2:00:00 PM
The Lewiston Public Library in Maine is expecting several donations of Robie Harris’s It’s Perfectly Normal (Candlewick, 1994), thanks to the actions of a local woman who refuses to return the book because she’s “horrified” by its graphic content.
David Moorhead, the children’s librarian at Lewiston, says he’s already ordered two more copies and that several people around the country—including teachers, librarians, and Harris’s publisher—have vowed to send additional copies.
“Her plan actually backfired,” says Ellen Gilliam, the library’s deputy director. “It’s a classic example of censorship—you end up shining a light and making a big fuss by saying the book is off-limits. But everyone ends up wanting to see it.”
JoAn Karkos in August checked out copies of the oft-challenged book from the children’s section of the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries after learning from the pro-life group American Life League that it was shelved in the children’s section.
“Since I have been sufficiently horrified [by] the illustrations and the sexually graphic, amoral, abnormal contents, I will not be returning the books,” Karkos wrote in letters to Rick Speer and Rosemary Waltos, directors, respectively, of the Lewiston and Auburn libraries. Karkos included a check for $20.95 to cover the cost of the book, but Speer returned the check, along with the library’s materials reconsideration form.
Karkos told the library that she had no plans to return the book or fill out the reconsideration form. If the book is not returned, Karkos will face fines and a $25 penalty. Eventually, the library will issue a summons that will require her to appear in court, Gilliam says.
Karkos’s actions won’t change a thing—there are no plans to move the book out of the children’s section at either library. “Our policy is completely open in terms of what kids are allowed to see,” says Gilliam, adding that the role of parents is to decide what their kids should view. “We don’t ban any kids from any books.”
A review in School Library Journal calls It’s Perfectly Normal, which covers everything from abortion to homosexuality, “a wonderful guide for young adolescents setting sail on the stormy seas of puberty.” It goes on to describe the book as a “sex manual” that’s “packed with the vital information they need to quell fears and make wise decisions.”
But Karkos, in an August 22 letter to the editor of the local Sun Journal, wrote that the book “robs children of the natural progression of sexual investigation” and gives sexual predators a tool that “gets children past the stage of embarrassment, blush, and shame.”
